N.J. governor candidates steer clear of the center

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GARDEN STATE UPDATE — “In N.J. governor’s race, both candidates steer clear of center,” by POLITICO New Jersey’s Ryan Hutchins and Katherine Landergan: “The Democrat running to replace Gov. Chris Christie calls himself ‘proudly progressive.’ He wants to legalize recreational marijuana, raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour and make New Jersey a ‘sanctuary state.’ His Republican challenger is hammering home the dangers of violent undocumented immigrants, setting aside the traditional New Jersey GOP campaign staple of cutting property taxes.

"Together, in one of the first statewide races of the Trump era, Democrat Phil Murphy and Republican Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno are demolishing the conventional wisdom that centrists win in New Jersey. It could be a sign of what’s to come in 2018 as both parties increasingly forsake the middle in favor of energizing and turning out the farther reaches of the party base.” Full story here.

AIR WARS — NEW THIS A.M. — Senate Majority PAC responds to Freedom Partners in Wisconsin: Senate Majority PAC, a super PAC controlled by allies of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, is going up with television ads in Wisconsin to defend Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin. Freedom Partners, the Koch Bros.-backed super PAC, began attacking her over tax reform last week. The ad is a direct response. “There's a reason out-of-state billionaires are smearing Tammy Baldwin. They’re protecting the rigged system that only works for them,” a narrator says in the 30-second spot. “This time, they want a new Republican tax plan that benefits the top 1 percent — but leaves Wisconsin behind. We know Senator Tammy Baldwin has voted over 50 times to cut taxes for the middle class. Tax cuts that work for child care, education, and retirement.” Watch the ad here.

— Meanwhile, League of Conservation Voters is up in Wis.: “The League of Conservation Voters is spending $300,000 on ads thanking Wisconsin Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin for protecting the Great Lakes, as she faces early pressure from a Republican advertising campaign ahead of her 2018 reelection bid,” POLITICO’s Kevin Robillard reports. “The LCV ad opens with a collection of fisherman bragging about the size of fish they caught.” Full story here.

DOWN BALLOT REAX — House candidates respond to Mueller investigation indictments: A handful of House challengers are weighing in on the news of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort’s indictment. At least three Democratic challengers took the opportunity to swipe at Republican incumbents, such as Democrat Dave Min, who called out California Rep. Mimi Walters to for “refus[ing] to comment on the Trump campaign’s alleged ties to Russia." Colin Allred, who’s running to challenge Texas Rep. Pete Sessions, took a blanket approach, stating, “now more than ever, it’s clear this Administration and Congress must commit to protecting Mueller's investigation.” Democrat Paul Kerr said California Rep. “Darrell Issa must make it clear that he will oppose any attempt by the president to interfere with the special counsel.” Democrat Hans Keirstead attacked California Rep. Dana Rohrabacher directly because he “received a campaign contribution from his ‘old friend,’ Paul Manafort, who has now been charged with conspiracy against the United States. At the bare minimum, the Congressman must return the campaign donation.”

— Meanwhile — Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, also released a statement, emphasizing her “continued support for this investigation.” (Democrat Don Boyajian, who’s running against her, called on her to “ensure the investigation is not blocked by executive action” by working “to pass the Special Counsel Integrity Act.”) House Speaker Paul Ryan stuck to his talking points when a Wisconsin radio station asked him about the indictments: “I really don’t have anything to add other than nothing is going to derail what we’re doing in Congress.”

The Opioid Crisis: Crucial Next Steps— Opioid-related deaths are at a record high in the US, and President Donald Trump has called the crisis “a national emergency.” Join POLITICO’s live event as experts discuss the policy challenges around fighting the opioid epidemic and identify what states, regulators, payers and providers are that’s working — and where more resources are needed. Nov. 2 at 8 a.m. — The W Hotel. RSVP: here.

VIRGINIA NUMBERS — Northam raises $10.8 million in October: Democratic Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam raised $10.8 million in October, his campaign announced on Tuesday. Northam, who had $5.6 million on hand at the end of September, now has under $1.7 million left in coffers. Republican Ed Gillespie has yet to release his fundraising numbers.

— NDRC puts $200K more into contest: The National Democratic Redistricting Committee has contributed another $200,000 into the race in the form of a donation to Northam, the group said yesterday.

— A new poll from Quinnipiac University gives Northam a massive lead over Republican Ed Gillepie, 53 percent to 36 percent. The poll was in the field from Oct. 25-29 and was a live caller poll that surveyed 916 likely voters. The margin of error is 4.2 percent. But an outlier warning: the poll’s results are well outside the RCP polling average, which gives Northam a 3.3 percent lead.

NEWS FEED — “Facebook: Up to 126M people saw Russian-planted posts,” by POLITICO’s Nancy Scola: “Facebook has identified 80,000 Russia-linked posts on its platform that sought to interfere in the 2016 election and were viewed by up to 126 million people, the company's general counsel will tell a Senate panel Tuesday. The so-called organic posts were planted by the Russia-based Internet Research Agency during the period from January 2015 to August 2017, Colin Stretch will say, according to a copy of his written testimony obtained by POLITICO.” Full story here.

— “Twitter, Google to tell Congress about more Russian-linked accounts,” by POLITICO’s Ashley Gold: “Twitter will tell lawmakers Tuesday it found 36,746 automated accounts with possible links to Russia that generated about 1.4 million election-related tweets during the 2016 campaign, according to a copy of the company's testimony obtained by POLITICO. Those tweets were viewed about 288 million times, Twitter's acting general counsel Sean Edgett will tell a Senate Judiciary subcommittee.” Full story here.

STAFFING UP — Walker announces campaign hires: Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker announced a slew of hires for his reelection bid. Joe Fadness will serve as the campaign manager, with former Ron Johnson communications director Brian Reisinger serving as senior adviser. Keith Gilkes, Walker’s longtime political aide, will be the general consultant, with Johnson Jordahl partner R.J. Johnson serving as senior strategic adviser. Nonbox President Bill Eisner will continue as Walker’s media consultant. Mike Grebe, a former Bradley Foundation chairman and the governor’s 2014 campaign chair, will serve as campaign chairman. Milwaukee philanthropist Jon Hammes will chair the finance committee. Nathan Craft moves from the governor’s official office to serve as press secretary. Two former Wisconsin GOP employees, Sawyer Olson and Jordan Wileman, will serve as operations manager and scheduling director, respectively. Chandler Swansen, a former finance director for Rep. Sean Duffy, will take on the same role for Walker, with Laura Gralton and Katie Schmidt serving as finance consultants.

— Rep. Tim Walz’s gubernatorial campaign announced Monday that Nick Coe will serve as campaign manager. The campaign also announced a number of other staffers working on the campaign: Patrick Tanis will serve as finance director; Tess Van Schepen is the campaign’s director of operations and special projects; Clare Verbeten, Erik Anderson, and Gwenia Fiskevold Gould will be deputy political and organizing directors; Brie Mitchell, Charlie Carlson and Jared Muskovitz will serve as political organizers. Matthew Thomas will be a special assistant to Walz on the campaign. Bill Lofy will serve as senior adviser for the campaign. The consulting firm New Partners is helping the campaign with state and national fundraising.

WALKING THE LINE — GOP candidate skirts Trump and Corker in Tennessee: While speaking at an event at the University of Tennessee’s Baker Center in Knoxville on Wednesday, Republican gubernatorial candidate Randy Boyd was asked who is doing the best to look out for Tennesseans, President Donald Trump or Sen. Bob Corker. In audio passed along by a clued-in Republican, Boyd didn’t pick either Republican. “I don't know the answer to that. I will make this comment. I wish that Howard Baker or Ronald Reagan were still around. I mean remember Ronald Reagan had something called the 11th Commandment and the 11th Commandment was I say no evil to Republicans,” Boyd said, going on to say “For me, I'm going to be just focused on Tennessee.”

MORE AIR WARS — Ouch: “Latino Victory Fund attacks Gillespie in harsh new ad,” by POLITICO’s Kevin Robillard: “Latino Victory Fund is out with a new 60-second ad in the Virginia governor's race featuring a supporter of GOP candidate Ed Gillespie chasing immigrant children while driving a pickup truck with the Confederate flag.

“The ad shows the truck chasing Latino and Muslim children through a neighborhood and eventually trapping them in an alley before one of the children wakes up from the nightmare. ‘Is this what Ed Gillespie and Donald Trump mean by the American dream?’ a female narrator asks over an image of two parents watching coverage of the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., this summer.” Full story here. Watch the ad here.

— “Jones ad uses Civil War battle to emphasize bipartisanship,” by POLITICO’s Daniel Strauss: “Former U.S. Attorney Doug Jones' Alabama Senate campaign released a new ad today focused on the importance of bipartisanship and civility, using a story from the Civil War as an example. The one-minute TV ad, called ‘Honor,’ features Jones talking directly into the camera as he discusses how Confederate Colonel William Oates of Alabama and Union Colonel Joshua Chamberlain of Maine confronted each other during the Civil War.

‘What brought those two brave men, one from Alabama and one from Maine, together was war. Two sides believing so strongly in their cause that they were willing to die for it,’ Jones says in the ad. ‘Those times have passed long ago and our country is better for it, but now we fight too often over other matters. It seems as if we’re coming apart.’” Full story here.

POPPING ONLINE — Crowdpac adds race alerts: Crowdpac, the crowdfunding-style fundraising website, is adding a new email alert feature that lets candidates and onlookers get notified whenever someone new starts raising money on the site in a race. The site helps campaigns raise money, and allows potential candidates to gather pledges and test out support, by putting up pages and soliciting donations.

CODA — QUOTE OF THE DAY: “I really don’t have anything to add other than nothing is going to derail what we’re doing in Congress,” House Speaker Paul Ryan told a local radio station when asked about Monday’s Mueller probe indictments, per Yahoo’s @LizcGoodwin.